"In this stunning and well-researched book, Kevin Levin catches the new waves of the study of memory, black soldiers, and the darker underside of the Civil War as well as anyone has." -David Blight, author of Race and Reunion

Glad to hear it. I very much appreciate your support and legal advice this past year. You went out of your way to help me and I will not forget it. All the best to you and Susan. Hopefully, at some point we will have a chance to meet in person.

Ask us again this time next year, after we’ve endured the first year of the Civil War sesquicentennial and its attendant historical debates. By then we should have encountered intense public fights between historians and ‘southern heritage’ groups over “black confederates”, “slavery vs states rights”, and “Lee vs Grant”, among others. SC’s “secession ball” was only a taste of things to come. God help us.

Thanks for a site that is both informative and thoughtful. You’ve staked out the high ground here, with a commanding advantage over both the “Lost Cause” apologists and their virulent attackers. I’ll keep looking to you as a reminder that we really need to let the original records tell their complex story.

Neil — You aren’t such an old man, but then I also knew you during your younger days. Neil and I were in the same audience back in 1986 when we heard a certain presidential address that went on for nearly ninety minutes, and the fun was just beginning.

Hate to admit it, but I’ve been coming to your site less and less in the past months. The reason being that the subject matter of your posts lately do little for me but to embarrass me as a Southerner who actually cares about his Confederate ancestors in their proper context. It embarrasses me to see you constantly point out the dumb Southerners/Neo-Confederate types, because being surrounded by them I obviously know they are out there, but I don’t see anything intellectually redeeming in repeatedly acknowledging their foolishness other than to say “hey y’all, look how stupid these rednecks are that they have Santa and Forrest in the same painting! lolz!” And hell ya, that is pretty stupid and embarrassing that something like that exists.

And yes, I’m aware that this is a flaw in my own character to not wish to acknowledge them. Perhaps someone with as much Confederate blood as myself (13 of 16 great-great-great grandfathers served) is the perfect person to take them on (and believe me I do whenever I get the chance face to face), but I guess I’m like the guy who feels a bump under his skin but is too afraid to go to the doctor to check it out and hopes if he doesn’t acknowledge it that it will just go away. Also, my problem could party be because someone who isn’t a Southerner and whose family wasn’t even here during the war is taking them on so consistently and effectively and I feel that I’m being mocked by proxy.

Whatever. It’s only 3pm and I’m already a bit tipsy. As Shelby Foote said “Southerners are very strange about that war”. And we still are apparently.

I appreciate the honesty, but I am sorry to hear that you are coming by less and less. I’m not going to try to defend myself here other than to say that my intention is not to point the fingers at anyone as “dumb” or a “redneck.” Yes, at times I have some fun with my posts, but I hope underneath it all is a sincere commitment to better understand the challenges and difficulties of Civil War remembrance. If I’ve tried to show anything, however, it’s that there is no single Southern memory of the past.

The one thing I will not apologize for is my place of origin. The history of the Civil War and its postwar incarnations (regardless of region) are part of the larger story of the United States. As a citizen I have just as much a right as anyone else to wrestle with it and draw my own conclusions. Once again, thanks for the comment and for dropping by on occasion.

Kevin, I certainly don’t expect you to apologize from where you are from. I’m the last person who would ever say that a person shouldn’t/couldn’t comment on something because of this or that. I’m a huge fan of Roman history and I’ve actually had people say something to the effect of “you can’t have an opinion of them because you weren’t even around back then, so how do you know… etc.”

My comment about where you come from was basically trying to explain the subconscious outlook that many Southerners have, which I fall into sometimes.. It’s not right to feel that way and as I explained in my previous paragraph it isn’t fair. However, this is a basic human emotion I think, something along the lines of “I can make fun of my dumb uncle all day long because he’s kin but YOU better not make fun of him.”

As Bob Hope would say, “Thanks for the Memories”. I check in nearly every day to lurk around. You have great style…I’m impressed at the way you frame a premise. The level of the discourse is enlightening (for the most part). I am amazed at times of the well researched feedback opinions and disappointed at others for such a narrow minded view.

After a long time of observation of life, I see it reassured here in these discussions often that ‘ignorance can be fixed, but stupidity is forever’.

Not only do I appreciate everything which other posters have already pointed out, but I also like your comments and suggestions regarding books. I’ve checked out some titles based on your recommendations and have even purchased a few. Hopefully, in the new year, I’ll get around to reading them as well.